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wavves sued?

TUESDAY, AUGUST 03, 2010 |

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Beach-punk outfit Wavves played a raucous, inebriated, sold-out show at the Bowery Ballroom last night, blasting through most of the tracks off the great new King of the Beach and choice songs from the last two records. A little more than halfway through the show, singer Nathan Williams remarked on the absence of newish song "Mickey Mouse" from the setlist, mentioning that Disney had issued him a cease-and-desist letter for having the song on his new record. He proceeded to put Walt Disney on blast for being a Nazi.

Williams mentioned the legal wrangling with Disney on his twitter earlier but it looks like the message has since been taken down. Is it all a big joke?! Maybe. It certainly seems possible given Williams' enthusiasm for alcohol, drugs, video games, etc. Everything is so meta these days! [Ed. Note: Williams' label later confirmed this was all, in fact, a big joke. "Mickey Mouse" is safe!]

[via wavves]

The show, meanwhile, was great. Williams is now backed by the late Jay Reatard's rhythm section who alternate between lovably stupid and aggravatingly stupid. Sometimes it feels like Williams is really slumming it with these dudes. After a brief sound check, the band left the stage to go get high and returned taking swigs from a bottle of whiskey which they passed into the crowd. Lots of people in the front row had similar plans for the evening which aggravated the two security guards trying to catch the perpetrators of the huge smoke clouds. The band played all the hits though &mdash the "No Hope Kids" finale was suitably epic as the picture above demonstrates &mdash including some great old songs like "Wavves".

It was the most fun I've had at a show in a while and, though there was some high-octane moshing towards the front, the room was full of good vibes between the band and the fans and among the fans themselves. It was kind of heartwarming, you know? King of the Beach, if you don't have it yet, is officially released on CD and vinyl today so get on it. -ben krusling